House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) joined CNBC’s Squawk Box this morning to discuss trade policies that build off the success of President Trump’s tax cuts and continue to grow America’s economy.

In response to President Trump’s proposed steel and aluminum tariffs, Chairman Brady said:

“What I know is this: [President Trump] is right to go after unfairly traded steel and aluminum. It is a major problem. It does cost us jobs. He ought to be standing up for our manufacturing workers. The problem, of course, is if you have blanket tariffs, you sweep in fairly traded steel and aluminum, then it backfires … I think the trick here is to tailor this action, so it goes after the unfairly trade steel and aluminum, [and] doesn’t cost us jobs or customers in Canada, Mexico, and around the world.”

He added:

“This isn’t about backing down. This is about hitting your target. In this case, the President wants to go after unfairly traded products, and again he’s right there.”

Read more excerpts from Chairman Brady’s interview below:

On the progress of NAFTA negotiations: 

“Coming back from the seventh negotiating round in NAFTA, I was encouraged by what I saw. They’ve made real progress, not just on the nuts and bolts of a good trade agreement, but they’re getting close on some major economic wins certainly for the U.S… what I left with was an overriding impression that everyone wants a modern NAFTA and they’re staying at the table to do it.”

“The stakes are so high here; economically this works. We do need a modern [agreement]. In fact, I think there are big economic wins all across the board here, and what I’m seeing is a serious discussion of how we get there. … so I haven’t seen anything here that doesn’t tell me we’re heading to a good, positive conclusion.”

On the positive effects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act:

“The early signs [of tax reform] are very, very encouraging and just what we hoped: more jobs, better paychecks, announcements of new investments in the U.S. And the best part is yet to come because … this was really built for growth over the long term and to make sure companies were making location decisions here in the U.S. rather than overseas, so I think the best is yet to come on tax reform.”